Measurements
diameter 2 1/2 in.

Alternate measurements
6.4 cm

Description
the small round box enameled with stylized foliage and geometric motifs in navy blue and forest green with accents of orange, white, and turquoise, the decoration heightened with applied gilded wires, the hinged cover painted en plein with a detail from Konstantin Makovsky's 1883 A Boyar Wedding Feast of the 17th Century (Hillwood Museum & Gardens, Washington, DC), the interior gilded
marked K. Fabergé with Imperial warrant overstriking Cyrillic initials of Feodor Rückert, and 88 standard

PROVENANCE
Christie's, New York, April 16 and 17, 1985, lot 209

CATALOGUE NOTE

Feodor Rückert frequently selected vignettes from the historicist paintings of Konstantin Makovsky (1839-1915), one of the most popular artists in late 19th-century Russia, to decorate the en plein panels of his enameled works. In Makovsky's large and varied oeuvre, highly-detailed compositions celebrating the boyars of pre-Petrine Russia were amongst the most admired and sought after. During a period of history which saw the traditional structure of Russian society change dramatically these works evoked the romance, color, and extravagance of a lost and untouchable age. On this box, as in the version on the front of the kovsh also in this sale (lot 18), Rückert has removed the figure of the svakha (matchmaker) shown at the bride's right in the original composition and focused entirely on the touching and romantic scene of the newly-married young couple. That Rückert chose to re-use the same vignette several times suggests that the pieces were purchased and treasured as wedding or anniversary gifts. For a two-handled tray by Rückert depicting the entire composition of A Boyar Wedding Feast of the 17th Century, see Sotheby's, New York, April 26, 2006, lot 279.